blogging

This is a Guest Blog by Frank Rose, Contributing Editor of Wired US, who's recently written and released "The Art of Immersion".

Everywhere I go this year, I seem to run into a branded content discussion.

From DIY Days in New York, to the “Brisk: Machete” panel I did with Robert Rodriguez and Dann Trejo at SXSW interactive, to the Branded Content Salon I spoke at at LBi London, to Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold at Hot Docs and Sheffield, the idea that brands can commission entertainment instead of merely advertising in it keeps popping up.

Last week we promised you some exciting news about the up and coming trip to Washington and we would hate to disappoint.

Just in case the top 10 reasons to head over to DC weren’t enough, we’re excited and delighted to announce a stellar line-up of partners for the Digital Mission to DC, including the US Department of State and a range of federal government agencies, Blue State Digital, the State of Maryland, Microsoft and Deloitte.

Along with our partners, Future Gov, Bright Lemon and Kathryn Corrick we have been working away to secure some of the most influential organisations and government departments for July’s mission visiting the US capital from 11-15th July. Applications close on 10th June, with a limited number of spots available.

Not long now until a group of digital government and social innovation geeks pack their bags and head over to the US with FutureGov and the Digital Mission gang to learn how things are done on the other side of the pond – and hopefully show them a thing or two as well with the best of UK digital innovation. 

But before all of that, I thought I’d fill you in on a good few reasons why we thought a Digital Mission to DC would be such a good idea…

We are very excited to announce that applications for the Digital Mission to Washington, DC taking place 11th - 15th July 2011 are now open.    

This trip is ideal for companies interested in digital government and social innovation who are looking to expand into the US market either directly or through partners.

Alongside a hectic programme of events there will be a chance for companies to interact with the US Government and key players within the digital space.

We have been working hard with our friends at digital government consultancy FutureGov, community builder BrightLemon and digital media consultant Kathryn Corrick in order to bring you this mission that helps bridge the gap between government and digital. 

Facebook and students: A happy marriage, or a receipe for disaster?

As you'd expect, the answer isn't so simple. A study and rather lovely infographic (see below) produced by OnlineEducation.net ponders this question from several different viewpoints.

As those tied to email all day can testify distractions hurt productivity, and the same is true when studying. Unsurprisingly, flicking between Facebook and studying results in 20% lower grades. Sound obvious? Turns out 79% of students don't believe it.

They're also less likely to be paying their way whilst studying, with Facebook user's working less than 5 hours per week, whilst their social-media-phobic counterparts clocking in an impressive 16 hours per week. Still, that's what student loans are for, right?

This is a fantastic visualisation of 24 hours' worth of tweets across London. It's a great video - and choice material for social media presentations, I'd wager - that brings to life the way information is shared across a geography.

The red dots are the tweets, with the yellow streaks showing the direction of a retweet (RT) from the origin to the destination. Of course, this is just a fraction of the actual volume as most people don't have geolocation turned on.